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Snider sparks Jays past Indians, 11-7

Travis Snider bumps fists with J.P. Arencibia after hitting a two-run home run against the Cleveland Indians in July. (AARON JOSEFCZYK / Reuters)

By Daniel Girard

Sat., July 9, 2011

CLEVELAND—Travis Snider looks like a guy determined to stay in the big leagues.

In the five games since returning from Triple-A Las Vegas after a demotion to work on his swing mechanics, the 23-year-old outfielder has been on a tear at the plate.

Snider did it again Friday night, going 3-for-5 with his first home run since early April, and driving in five runs as the Blue Jays beat the Indians 11-7 at Progressive Field.

He just missed his second homer of the night when his drive in the ninth hit the top of the wall in centre field for a two-run double that gave the Jays a little more insurance.

“The most important thing coming back is when you have opportunities to help your team win ball games to take advantage,” Snider said after the Jays snapped a three-game losing streak. “The past few games those situations have been coming up more often than not and that’s a credit to the guys that are hitting in front of me.”

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Snider also doled out credit to the coaching staff in Las Vegas for helping him get into a good routine and Jays pitching coach Dwayne Murphy for helping him “seamlessly transition” with it now that he’s back in Toronto. He said he’s also not trying to take “perfect swings every time” but get good pitches and do what he can with them.

Snider has been doing a lot of good things with pitches since his recall Monday.

With Friday’s performance before 25,835 fans here, Snider is 9-for-22 with six extra-base hits and eight RBIs in those five games.

“I’m really trying to stay focused on one game at a time and not get caught up in the short-term success I’ve been having,” Snider said.

Manager John Farrell, who called it a “much-needed” win, said Snider’s 49 games in Las Vegas, where he hit .333 with 21 RBIs, are clearly paying off.

“He’s driving some good fastballs that weren’t necessarily the case … first time up here,” Farrell said. “So the adjustments that he’s made are really playing out.”

For the second straight night, it was the bottom of the Jays order doing the damage. In addition to No. 7 hitter Snider, ninth-place hitter Rajai Davis was 3-for-4, with four RBIs, two runs scored and two steals. Edwin Encarnacion, batting sixth, had four hits.

“We swung the bats very well tonight,” Farrell said.

The Jays’ 16-hit attack made a winner out of left-hander Jo-Jo Reyes (4-7). It was his second straight win over the Indians but had little resemblance to his 11-1, complete game gem at the Rogers Centre in late May. He pitched with men on in every inning, was pushed long into counts and fell victim to some shoddy defence behind him.

Reyes was finally chased with one out in the sixth after an error by Adam Lind allowed the Indians to cut the lead to 8-3. All three runs were unearned in a 107-pitch effort.

“Tonight was a struggle,” Reyes said. “I didn’t feel good from the first inning.

“I battled the whole game and luckily I got some runs behind me.”

And, for the second straight night the Jays bullpen made the late innings interesting.

After Octavio Dotel provided a solid 1.1 innings in relief of Reyes, Farrell turned to Shawn Camp. The veteran right-hander couldn’t get an out.

With the score 9-4 and the crowd in a frenzy, Jason Frasor was brought in to face Travis Hafner, who hit a walk-off grand slam in the Indians’ 5-4 series-opening win Thursday, with the bases loaded. This time, Hafner struck out with a mighty cut at a fastball.

Travis Buck cut the lead to three with a two-run double but Snider’s two-run double in the ninth set the stage for Jon Rauch to mop up. He gave up a run on two hits.

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